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Involving Universities in Regional Upgrading in the Periphery: Lessons from Northern Europe

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Regional Upgrading in Southern Europe

Part of the book series: Advances in Spatial Science ((ADVSPATIAL))

Abstract

This chapter presents and discusses two cases of regional upgrading involving public-run universities in two Northern European countries, Norway and the Netherlands. More specifically, it illuminates how academic groups associated with the field of medicine took pro-active steps to establish and further develop regional coalitions which, over time, have resulted in situated learning. The focus on processes of university-regional engagement and mutual satisfaction in a context where universities are pressured to be globally excellent allow lessons to be drawn for regions in Southern Europe. Subtle transfer is nevertheless required to account for universities’ autonomies and organisational capacity to embed engagement at the institutional level.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    UiT’s first appointed rector, Peter F. Hjort, has been characterised as an ‘enterprising rector’ (Arbo and Eskelinen 2003). Before taking the job, Hjort, a respected professor of medicine from Oslo, demanded a guarantee from the government that it would back a rapid build-up of the university including a fully integrated medical school and a university hospital.

  2. 2.

    In the mid-1970s, 20% of Norwegian men died of myocardial infarction before the age of 75, while the situation in Northern Norway was even bleaker.

  3. 3.

    https://en.uit.no/prosjekter/prosjekt?p_document_id=80172

  4. 4.

    This section draws extensively on the case study of the Twente region undertaken as part of the ESRC-funded project “Bringing Cambridge to Consett”, and draws upon Benneworth and Hospers (2007a, b).

  5. 5.

    http://www.utwente.nl/tg/index2/

  6. 6.

    http://www.utwente.nl/en/archive/2013/11/technical-physicians-of-the-university-of-twente-included-in-the-individual-health-care-professions-act/

  7. 7.

    http://www.technischweekblad.nl/opereren-op-poppen.127605.lynkx

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management and Governance, Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), University of Twente, 217, 7500, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Paul Benneworth

  2. Agderforskning, Gimlemoen 19, 4630, Kristiansand S, Norway

    Paul Benneworth & Rómulo Pinheiro

  3. Department of Political Science and Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Agder, 422, 4604, Kristiansand, Norway

    Rómulo Pinheiro

Authors
  1. Paul Benneworth
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  2. Rómulo Pinheiro
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Correspondence to Paul Benneworth .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Porto, Lisboa, Portugal

    Madalena Fonseca

  2. Department ABC, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Ugo Fratesi

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Benneworth, P., Pinheiro, R. (2017). Involving Universities in Regional Upgrading in the Periphery: Lessons from Northern Europe. In: Fonseca, M., Fratesi, U. (eds) Regional Upgrading in Southern Europe. Advances in Spatial Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49818-8_13

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